A narrow belt conveyor system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,365, which is incorporated herein by reference. Narrow belt conveyor systems utilize a plurality of continuously moving parallel belts for conveying flat-bottomed objects along straight runs. Such a system is shown generally in FIGS. 1 and 2, and is generally designated 10. The system includes multiple belts 15 supported between opposed side frames 16 and 18. While four belts 15 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, more or less can be used, as required. The spaces between the belts readily accommodate pop-up transfers and diverters, such as the 90 degree transfer 20 and the 30 degree diverter 22, to direct conveyed articles to an appropriate destination. As best seen in FIG. 1, the pop-up diverter 22 comprises a plurality of wheels 24 arranged between the spaced belts 15 in three rows to present, when viewed from above, a generally triangular array,
Efforts are always being made to increase the rate at which items can be handled by a conveyor system, sometimes referred to as the throughput rate. One way to increase the throughput rate is to increase the speed of the conveyor. A second way to increase the throughput rate is to reduce the gap between articles conveyed on the system. However, the extent to which the second way can be utilized has heretofore been limited by the size of the diverter unit. Specifically, and with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, all the diverter wheels of the pop-up diverter are carried on brackets 26 that are typically mounted on a common frame or support member 28 so that they are all raised and lowered in unison. Thus, the minimum spacing or gap between adjacent conveyed articles that pass over the diverter 22 must be greater than the distance across all the rows of wheels 24 that comprise the diverter so that the trailing edge of a first conveyed article completely clears the diverter section before the leading edge of the next conveyed article arrives. As can be appreciated, this puts a lower limit on the space or gap between conveyed articles, thus limiting the extent to which spacing can be reduced to maximize the rate at which articles can be handled by the conveyor. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations inherent in prior art diverter systems to increase the throughput rate of a narrow belt conveyor system.